CASE STUDIES / PERSONAL BRAND / ALBERTA
The Executive Pastry Chef at Fairmont Château Lake Louise, trained in Paris. We rebuilt her Instagram, TikTok and Facebook around one clear position. In two months her Instagram passed 54,000 views and grew by a fifth, mostly through people who had never heard of her.
Executive Pastry Chef, Fairmont Château Lake Louise
THE SITUATION
Viorika Marinesku started with a master’s degree in ecology, then went to Paris: Le Cordon Bleu and FERRANDI. Seven years of pastry on cruise lines followed. Today she runs pastry at Fairmont Château Lake Louise, one of the most photographed hotels in Canada, with a plan to open something of her own one day.
Her Instagram showed none of it. It was a personal page with around 630 followers, mostly friends and family, with personal photos and the odd dessert. No position, no plan, no reason for a stranger to follow. We built the brand from zero.
THE PROBLEM
WHAT WE DID
01
ProblemNothing answered “who is she, and why follow?”, and each platform had a different name.
What we didOne line for every profile: Executive Pastry Chef at Fairmont, French-trained, Le Cordon Bleu. Instagram, TikTok and Facebook moved to one handle, @viorika.marinesku, with local keywords people actually search.
02
ProblemEvery post looked and sounded different.
What we didA tone of voice (passionate, honest, masterful), a quiet luxury palette and an elegant serif for titles. Her story is told in her own words over the video, so every post sounds like her.
03
ProblemPosts filled a gap rather than built anything.
What we didEvery post belongs to one of four pillars with a fixed share of the plan: Craft & Process, The Journey, Alberta Life, Standards. Followers always know what they will get, and the story keeps moving.
04
ProblemA hotel pastry kitchen leaves little time for a camera.
What we didTwo production days planned around her shifts, a shot list for every video, and scripted voice-overs telling her story from ecology to Paris to Fairmont. Everything shot in 4K, so one day fed weeks of content.
05
ProblemShe had no hours left to edit or post.
What we didWe cut every Reel, wrote captions with Calgary and Alberta keywords, adapted each piece per platform and published on schedule after her approval. She filmed and approved. We did the rest.
THE BRAND SYSTEM
A new visitor should understand the level of the work in three seconds, before reading a word. So the system is built on calm, space and texture rather than loud colour.
Palette
Typography
Cormorant Garamond
Headlines, quotes, anchor posts
Montserrat Light
Bio, captions, Stories text
DM Sans
Text over video
Content pillars
Voice
“Two weeks on this texture. Finally got it right.”
“Just a little Tuesday treat!!”
Passionate, honest, masterful. Trends only when they fit the brand.
THE RESULT
Not just views. People watched, shared and pressed follow. Two of these she filmed herself at work from our brief: we sent a shot list and a script, she filmed on her phone between shifts, we edited and published. The third comes from our production day. Under each Reel is the screenshot straight from her Instagram.
54,371 views
Her videos were watched more than 54 thousand times in under two months. That is the Scotiabank Saddledome filled almost three times, for an account that started with 630 followers.
2 out of 3
65.6% of those views came from people who did not follow her. In plain words: Instagram kept showing her to new people, because the content was worth showing.
+20.8% followers
From 7 July to today the account grew by a fifth, to 814 people. No ads, no giveaways, no bought followers. Every one of them chose to follow after watching her work.
7.8K on one Reel
Her best Reel was watched about ten times more than she had followers at the time. That is what a clear position and good footage do together.
30 · 18 · 14 · 14 · 12
This is how many people followed her after each of her top posts. Views are nice; follows are people deciding they want more of her.
The pattern is clear: behind the scenes of the hotel kitchen and her own story bring followers. A beautiful dessert alone brings likes.
About the numbers. Figures come from Instagram insights: the first-month report covers 15 June to 14 July 2026, and the overview covers 7 July to 31 August 2026. On TikTok, 93.5% of the audience was in Canada in the first month.
WHAT IT GAVE HER
FAQ
If you plan to open your own place, teach, consult or sell a product one day, yes. A restaurant brand belongs to the restaurant. A personal brand belongs to you and moves with you from job to job. Building it while you are still employed means you open with an audience that already trusts your name, instead of starting from zero on opening day.
Less than people expect. We write the strategy, the content plan, the scripts and the shot lists, then plan production days around your schedule. Between shoots, short phone clips from work fill the gaps. Editing, captions, publishing and reporting are on us. Your part is filming, approving and being yourself on camera when you can.
Both, but people follow people. In this project the best Reel of the first month was about the chef's actual job, not a dessert. Finished plates prove skill. Your decisions, your standards and your story are what make someone follow and come back.
Use both, from the same footage. Instagram is where people check who you are and judge your level, so the profile has to look like a brand. TikTok shows your work to strangers, and in this case most of the TikTok audience was in Canada. Facebook adds extra reach from cross-posting at no extra production cost.
Plan in months, not weeks. The first month sets the position, the look and the publishing rhythm and shows which formats travel. Growth compounds after that, and paid promotion makes sense only once you know which Reels already work. Anyone promising ten thousand followers in a month is selling followers, not a brand.
It depends on how much production is involved: strategy only, strategy plus content, or full management with shoots, editing and publishing. Our tiers are on the pricing page, and on a short call we can tell you which one fits where you are now.
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